Winter Parva, a traditional Cotswolds village next door to Carsely, has decided to throw a celebratory hog roast to mark the beginning of the winter holiday festivities and Agatha Raisin has arrived with friend and rival in the sleuthing business, Toni, to enjoy the merriment. But, as the spit pig is carried towards the bed of fiery charcoal, Agatha - and the rest of the village - realise that things aren't as they seem...

Very quickly it transpires that the spit pig is in fact Gary Beech, a policeman not much loved in Winter Parva. And although Agatha has every intention of leaving the affair to the police, she rapidly changes her mind when she finds out Gary's ex-wife has hired Toni to investigate. Cantankerous and competitive as Agatha is, she has to now join the fray and try and solve the case herself!

Curious Curate

He was a vicar to die for - and he did! Agatha is going through a man-hating phase and so is unmoved by news of the captivating new curate. But when she meets the golden-haired, blue-eyed Tristan Delon, she is swept off her feet . . . along with every other female in the village. She is positively ecstatic when he invites her to dine with him but the next day Agatha is left with a hangover from hell - and his cold corpse suggests that, once again, she's in the frame for murder!

Fairies of Fryfam

Agatha's away with the fairies . . . And the little folk are causing big trouble for her! Angry at being jilted by new husband James, Agatha follows a fortune-teller's advice and rents a cottage in pretty Fryfam. There, she hopes, true love will come chasing after her. But her romantic notions are dispelled by a series of odd goings-on in the village: strange lights start appearing in her back garden; there are thefts of paintings and pottery; her beloved cats vanish. And then the local squire is found dead. Agatha's nose for trouble ensnares her in a maelstrom of jealousy, blackmail and dangerous liaisons, especially with a murderer who plans to keep irrepressible Agatha permanently in Fryfam - as a resident corpse!

Day the Floods Came

Drowned brides are like buses: nothing for ages, then two come along at the same time . . . ! Abandoned by husband James, Agatha hops on a plane to the South Pacific, hoping to mend her broken heart. But there she meets a happy honeymooning couple, for whom disaster strikes when, tragically, the bride drowns. Back home, alarm bells start ringing for Agatha when a woman, dressed in a wedding gown, is swept down river. The police say suicide, but Agatha, spurred on by recent memories, particularly her own disastrous marriage, sets out to prove them wrong.

Pushing up Daisies

Allotment wars! Lord Bellington, Carsely's biggest landholder, has enraged locals by saying he is going to sell off their allotments to make way for a new housing development. So when he turns up dead, poisoned by antifreeze, nobody mourns his passing. On another fine summer's day Agatha visits Carsley's allotments where everything looks peaceful and perfect: people of all ages digging in the soil and working hard to grow their own fruit and veg. Agatha feels almost tempted to take on a strip herself . . . but common sense soon prevails. She doesn't really like getting her hands dirty. She is introduced to three oldtimers who have just taken over a new strip; Harry Perry, Bunty Daventry and Josephine Merriweather are lamenting the neglected condition of the patch. But as Harry starts to shovel through the weeds and grass his spade comes across something hard so he bends down and tries to move the object. And then he starts to yell . . . The body is that of Peta Currie, a newcomer to the village - but who would want to murder her? Blonde and beautiful she's every local male's favourite. And then Lord Bellingham's son engages Agatha to do some digging of her own and very soon Agatha is thrown into a world of petty feuds, jealousies and disputes over land. It would seem that far from being tiny gardens of Eden, Carsley's allotments are local battlefields where passions - and the bodycount - run high!

Dishing the Dirt

A therapist had moved into the village of Carsely and Agatha Raisin hates her. Not only was this therapist, Jill Davent, romancing Agatha's ex-husband, but she had dug up details of Agatha's slum background. Added to that, Jill was counselling a woman called Gwen Simple from Winter Parva and Agatha firmly believed Gwen to have assisted her son in some grisly murders, although has no proof she had done so. A resentment is different from a dislike and needs to be shared, so as the friendship between James and Jill grows stronger, the more Agatha does to try to find out all she can about her. When Jill is found strangled to death in her office two days' later, Agatha finds herself under suspicion - and must fight to clear her name.

Hiss and Hers